To the men and women who rumble and jangle down my street every Monday night collecting bottles and cans: I respect the patience and industriousness that it takes to make a buck in your line of work. That is why I separate my redeemables and put them in their own bag on the curb, so you can easily pick them up. And that is why it pisses me off when one of you decides to go rummaging through my blue bag, tearing a hole in it or untying the knot and leaving the bag open, so that I wake up the next morning to find a mess on the sidewalk. Take some care in the work that you do, or you will not be tolerated!
—Dutiful recycler
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2009.
**true story**
Watched an older gentleman observe said “men & women” (google waste of air/life for more info) as they tore through his recyclables. Long story short – when these “men & women” left his once clean area at the end of his driveway in a mess, he quietly proceeded to walk down to the end of the drive and boot their prized collection of cans stacked in stolen shopping cart all over/down the street. Something about watching trash spend their afternoon picking up trash that they have already picked up already… it just made me smile. 🙂
oh man!
yea i wouldnt be to happy either seeing how you organize them for them!
I don’t like when that happens either…the only thing I can think of is that they either think my separation is a big swindle and I’ve “hidden” a trove of pop cans in the core of my blue blag, under all the fucking yoghurt containers and plastic bags, or, maybe there’s something in my blue bag that’s redeemable but I didn’t know it was redeemable…some items I’m just not really sure about. Either way, it’s just, come on guys…the more you do that, the more likely I’m going to be to just start hoarding my cans/bottles and taking them back myself. After all why should I go out of my way to basically give them money if they’re just going to piss on my effort?
I hear ya! I watch a couple drive up in a Saab every week and take the bags and throw them in the trunk. Well, at least they take the whole bag!
I never put returnable shit out and haven’t had a problem – but then again they only pick up trash once a year out here in Hillbilly Hollow.
I save my refundable stuff for the people that come digging. They knock on my door, and I give it to them. It saves me the hassle; and quite frankly, it means a lot more to them than me.
However, I don’t appreciate when people drop by under cover of darkness to rip holes in the bags likes rats. If you got $$ for gas and a car, leave my fucking garbage alone.
Dearest OB;
Hmmm……….I don’t think your target audience will get your message………….just a hunch.
Try sticking a note on the blue bags…………..way more effective communique.
Smee
Well, they might see the message if it were printed… eh?
If you weren’t awake and didn’t see it happen, you can’t judge it. Raccoons do exactly the same, so maybe one smelled something that led him to your bag and caused it to tear open the bag.
HAHA! Yes, raccoons untied the knot in the bag in search of cash-redeemable recyclables.
I watched one of those men with a cart on North St on Monday afternoon,walking down the street with his stolen cart full of junk. He went in to someones yard and TORE OPEN a green garbage bag to llok what was in it. He then procceded to the back of the house to presumably dig through more of their garbage! I would have been pissed to look out my window and see that happening!